I've just registered for my PhD in UK (University of Bath) and I am searching to buy a car, since it's more likely to find flat out of Bath...

I got quotes for Mazda MX5 NC from Admiral, Bell, Diamond and Elephant from a quick search on a comparison website. These are the companies that can insure this car for a reasonable amount of money (less than 1,000gbp, EU licence and 6,000miles). The next cheapest company quoted for over 2,200gbp...

I've just registered for my PhD in UK (University of Bath) and I am searching to buy a car, since it's more likely to find flat out of Bath...

I got quotes for Mazda MX5 NC from Admiral, Bell, Diamond and Elephant from a quick search on a comparison website. These are the companies that can insure this car for a reasonable amount of money (less than 1,000gbp, EU licence and 6,000miles). The next cheapest company quoted for over 2,200gbp...

Personal experience..
Directline - Problem-free, good support, good website
Aviva - Problem-free, good support, good website, probably not the cheapest for young drivers, though
Churchill - Problem-free, good support, good website, favourite so far
Elephant / Admiral - Cheap for young drivers. Support is ok. Beware their renewals. Unfairly expensive if even involved in non fault accident. Other than that, as long as you don't mod your car or get into trouble, they're very 'ok'
Adrian Flux (brokering on behalf of ERS) - Support not great, lots of bouncing around departments to get simple problems solved. Can get a really good deal if you can negotiate well. Clunky website. Very 'ok'.
Quote me happy - Cheap but not very flexible, support lacking

(Original post by Emma:-))
I totally agree. Wouldnt touch them with a 10 foot barge pole.

Never had a box because I drive too aggressivley but I cant understand why you are telling people to avoid them? It makes the insurance cheaper if you drive correctly. Yes, some of them say you can only drive during the day but all insurances have terms and conditions.

I can’t see any problem with putting a box on an mx-5 either, it’s not a quick car and even if it was a quick car, drive normally and your insurance is still cheaper.

Car insurance is a strange game. You need to try all the comparison websites and independent ones. You need to see what difference it makes when you say you’re leaving it on the driveway as opposed to the road.

You will be surprised at the differences. It would cost me £2200 so insure a fiesta but £1500 to insure an Audi A6 at the same price.

Mx-5s are quite often modified, I’d imagine theyre very easy to steal and there’s probably been many written off - these all equate to expensive insurance. So try different cars and even consider keeping a car for a year or 2 to get yourself some no claims - think Dacia, Peugeot, Citroen petrol 1 litre hatchback.

Make sure you declare any motoring convictions as they can view these in seconds so it’s stupid to lie but any non motoring convictions can be left out as They don’t seem to have the ability to check this.

(Original post by Ewok94)
Never had a box because I drive too aggressivley but I cant understand why you are telling people to avoid them? It makes the insurance cheaper if you drive correctly. Yes, some of them say you can only drive during the day but all insurances have terms and conditions.

Then you probably don't know enough about them, that's most likely what it is, you get enough experience by just spending a month in this section and a bit of research as to the fact they are basically a false economy. Let's give you the easiest example.

Black box quote: £1600 - 8000 miles
Fully Comp nonbox quote: £2300

£700 difference, the black box is in theory, a no brainer.

You then get a box, a week later it gets installed, by this point you are already £90 down if you wish to remove the idle box at the end of your first year. The difference is now £610.

You drive somewhat ok, a few inconsistent scores, you have your first review, a letter comes in. You did 33 in a 30 3 times in one day, you are now expecting a premium increase of £15 a month. Assuming you have an accelerated policy, this is a £150 increase. The difference is now £460.

You try to improve, the box said you cornered too fast and went 40 in a 30, you insist you were nowhere near where the GPS on the box claims you were, let alone doing that kind of speed. You can't prove it. You are fined £75. The difference is now £385. Already, the stress of having aforementioned box alone is worth that.

You want to go on a road trip with your friends towards the end of the year, but you have like 380 miles left on a policy, it isn't enough for your road trip and day-to-day running of the car. You ask your box provider for some more miles. They quote you £35 for 100 additional miles, or 500 for £150. You bbuy 500 miles. The difference is now £235.

On the road trip, you hit 77 on the motorway a few times, whatever, you make one more mistake somewhere. Your insurer has now issued you with a notification of cancellation.

You search for a new policy with just 8 months driving experience on record and a cancellation. You are quoted £3700.

The end. This is obviously the worst case scenario, many including Paynos for example, saved money, but why risk it.

(Original post by Ewok94)
Never had a box because I drive too aggressivley but I cant understand why you are telling people to avoid them? It makes the insurance cheaper if you drive correctly. Yes, some of them say you can only drive during the day but all insurances have terms and conditions.

Cheaper in the short term, not in the long term. If your policy ends up getting cancelled, for something which wasn't your fault, then you're looking at sky-rocketing premiums. And it's not as if GPS is accurate, it's really not.

(Original post by nevershear)
Then you probably don't know enough about them, that's most likely what it is, you get enough experience by just spending a month in this section and a bit of research as to the fact they are basically a false economy. Let's give you the easiest example.

Black box quote: £1600 - 8000 miles
Fully Comp nonbox quote: £2300

£700 difference, the black box is in theory, a no brainer.

You then get a box, a week later it gets installed, by this point you are already £90 down if you wish to remove the idle box at the end of your first year. The difference is now £610.

You drive somewhat ok, a few inconsistent scores, you have your first review, a letter comes in. You did 33 in a 30 3 times in one day, you are now expecting a premium increase of £15 a month. Assuming you have an accelerated policy, this is a £150 increase. The difference is now £460.

You try to improve, the box said you cornered too fast and went 40 in a 30, you insist you were nowhere near where the GPS on the box claims you were, let alone doing that kind of speed. You can't prove it. You are fined £75. The difference is now £385. Already, the stress of having aforementioned box alone is worth that.

You want to go on a road trip with your friends towards the end of the year, but you have like 380 miles left on a policy, it isn't enough for your road trip and day-to-day running of the car. You ask your box provider for some more miles. They quote you £35 for 100 additional miles, or 500 for £150. You bbuy 500 miles. The difference is now £235.

On the road trip, you hit 77 on the motorway a few times, whatever, you make one more mistake somewhere. Your insurer has now issued you with a notification of cancellation.

You search for a new policy with just 8 months driving experience on record and a cancellation. You are quoted £3700.

The end. This is obviously the worst case scenario, many including Paynos for example, saved money, but why risk it.

So as i said previously all insurances have terms and conditions. The point In the box is you don’t exceed the limits. If someone is prepared to drive like that for a year (I’m defintiely not) the box is blatantly the solution for cheaper insurance.

I am also aware of the points scoring system which Means if you drive well on the way to work you will score a 5 meaning you can fly home from work and score a 1 but the day will average out as a score of 3 meaning your insurance will remain the same. On this same points scoring system if you were to remain at 4/5 points regularly you receive a 10% discount. Sounds like you’ve had a very bad experience and you’re tarring everyone with the same brush.

(Original post by Ewok94)Never had a box because I drive too aggressivley but I cant understand why you are telling people to avoid them? It makes the insurance cheaper if you drive correctly. Yes, some of them say you can only drive during the day but all insurances have terms and conditions.

I can’t see any problem with putting a box on an mx-5 either, it’s not a quick car and even if it was a quick car, drive normally and your insurance is still cheaper.

Car insurance is a strange game. You need to try all the comparison websites and independent ones. You need to see what difference it makes when you say you’re leaving it on the driveway as opposed to the road.

You will be surprised at the differences. It would cost me £2200 so insure a fiesta but £1500 to insure an Audi A6 at the same price.

Mx-5s are quite often modified, I’d imagine theyre very easy to steal and there’s probably been many written off - these all equate to expensive insurance. So try different cars and even consider keeping a car for a year or 2 to get yourself some no claims - think Dacia, Peugeot, Citroen petrol 1 litre hatchback.

Another alternative is to front the insurance which means insuring the car in a more experienced drivers name and putting you as a named driver.. it will be far cheaper and although it is illegal you definitely won’t be caught.

Make sure you declare any motoring convictions as they can view these in seconds so it’s stupid to lie but any non motoring convictions can be left out as They don’t seem to have the ability to check this.

The reason why i am telling people to avoid black boxes is because they are ****. You dont have to look far to read or hear about people having problems with them- such as the boxes giving false recordings (such as recording tat the car is speeding when the car was on the drive all along etc) and the boxes giving inaccurate scores (and even other drivers driving being unable to change it etc). These are all headaches which would rather be avoided and are more common than you think.
Some black boxes also have things like curfews or mileage limits. For some people these arent viable due to having to travel to work, college, uni etc. You dont have any of that with normal policies.
Plus they arent even cheaper in some cases. Quite often ive seen the black boxes being either the same price or more expensive than normal policies. In the odd cases ive seen where they are cheaper, they arent much cheaper- so you would be a fool to not go for a normal policy.

And why are you promoting fronting- as well as being ILLEGAL. People get caught doing it more often than you think. If you do get caught you are screwed. I cant believel you are promoting it. At least as a main driver you build up your own no claims.

(Original post by Ewok94)
So as i said previously all insurances have terms and conditions. The point In the box is you don’t exceed the limits. If someone is prepared to drive like that for a year (I’m defintiely not) the box is blatantly the solution for cheaper insurance.

I am also aware of the points scoring system which Means if you drive well on the way to work you will score a 5 meaning you can fly home from work and score a 1 but the day will average out as a score of 3 meaning your insurance will remain the same. On this same points scoring system if you were to remain at 4/5 points regularly you receive a 10% discount. Sounds like you’ve had a very bad experience and you’re tarring everyone with the same brush.

No I'm not silly enough to get a box. The first few months of driving are hard, you're extremely likely to make a mistake. You'd be hard pressed to find someone here with a good experience, those with bad ones heavily outnumber them.

My terms let me drive according to road conditions. I live in London, people force me to brake heavily a lot, why should I get punished because of other people?

(Original post by Emma:-))
The reason why i am telling people to avoid black boxes is because they are ****. You dont have to look far to read or hear about people having problems with them- such as the boxes giving false recordings (such as recording tat the car is speeding when the car was on the drive all along etc) and the boxes giving inaccurate scores (and even other drivers driving being unable to change it etc). These are all headaches which would rather be avoided and are more common than you think.
Some black boxes also have things like curfews or mileage limits. For some people these arent viable due to having to travel to work, college, uni etc. You dont have any of that with normal policies.
Plus they arent even cheaper in some cases. Quite often ive seen the black boxes being either the same price or more expensive than normal policies. In the odd cases ive seen where they are cheaper, they arent much cheaper- so you would be a fool to not go for a normal policy.

And why are you promoting fronting- as well as being ILLEGAL. People get caught doing it more often than you think. If you do get caught you are screwed. I cant believel you are promoting it. At least as a main driver you build up your own no claims.

I’ve been banned with 17 points so black box on a picanto May Be my only option in a few months when I get my license back for insurance under £2k. I’ve paid £3500 for third party on a 7 year old 1.1 Citroen c2 before so I know all the tricks.

Explain to me Emma how people are caught for insurance fronting because I’ve not seen anyone denied a pay out with fronted or non declared convictions insurance. How would an insurance company go about catching someone who was fronting insurance then?